Sandbar Restaurant

The view, food, drinks, and serve rocked at the Sandbar! Our server was «G» and he was great! We had the calamari and Bud & Bay shrimp, that’s what is in my photo. Everyone enjoyed their dinner at my table of 7. At sunset, they play a game of who can guess the correct sunset time. We won! We won a bottle of champagne and those who were not drinking were given an ice cream bar! It was a lot of fun to end our already great dinner.
We did not get the luxury of sitting at the tables in the sand, but it was still awesome!

Well, my initial impression of this highly recommended restaurant leaves much to be desired. Exceptionally rude hostess (Kassandra) and some real lack of competence by the other hostess (Skyler) who decided that our part number grew by 50% magically. Still waiting for a table (I get it, they’re busy and popular), but the front door staff needs to be giving good impressions. If it were just me and Amy and the kids, I’d take my business elsewhere. Not getting a good Unilocal!review at this point. Hope the wait staff and food can make up for it.

Was expecting much more, the service was horribly slow and the restraunt was not that busy.
For the high prices, the food was average and have found the same cuisine many other places for less. The view is nice but the décor is somewhat run down. Would not recommend.
Rob T.

Always fantastic seafood! Great drinks! Only request — need a foot wash area for after beach strolls!

Good service and pretty atmosphere BUT the food was so so. They served focaccia bread with olive oil, garlic and I think pesto. In general I’m not a big focaccia fan so I wasn’t really excited for it. For our app we got the soft-​shell crab. I had never had it AND it’s not for me! Even though it was «soft-​shell» I couldn’t eat it bc of the texture. The flavor was dirty to me. I love seafood but I can say I don’t like soft-​shell crab. I ordered the grouper pasta dish for my meal. Good portion size and the grouper was good but the pasta didn’t have much flavor. The Hubs got the swordfish with scallops an shrimp. He said it was pretty good and the scallops were awesome. However he said he wish he just ordered scallops. There are a bunch of places in AMI so I think we will not be trying this place again.

So disappointed! I was here 20+ years ago. No longer offers live entertainment. You get piped in music. The food and drink quality have really deteriorated.

Place gets one star because our server was great (Joyce). My girlfriend and her family raved about this place. «Best place to eat on the island» and «Most popular place around» but those lofty expectations missed wide right. The food was some of the worst I have ever seen served. Contaminated Gulf oysters, wilted greens, and spoiled king crab. I guess when you are the «most popular place on the island» you cut corners to get by. A crappy tourist trap.

My fiancé raved about this place from his past visits to Anna Maria, so we went mid-​day last week during our vacation. It was packed but we were seated instantly. Took 10 minutes for our waiter to show up. We ordered waters, 2 piña colada rum floats (which the waiter said was served in a margarita glass — old style), and a peel and eat shrimp. We watched our Pina coladas sit at the front window for 15 minutes for pick-​up (which were in a beer glass and more like a piña colada float rather than a rum one) and they were SO watered down. Had to remind our waiter about the water, which took another 10 minutes. By that time a family was seated next to us and already had all their drinks. As he brought them their appetizer 20 minutes later, he looked at us and realized he forgot our appetizer. So… 15 minutes for drinks, 25 for water, and 45 minutes to get an appetizer. He COMPLETELY disappeared during those times unless it was for the table next to us. Then it took another 15 minutes to get the check. Doug C, why did you hate our table so much? :(
The 2 stars is for the services. Those Pina Coladas were DELICIOUS, by the way. If it’s super hot and humid out, getting drinks right away — even just water — is super important.

We (16 of us) ate lunch at Sandbar. I got the scallops and shrimp. 3 scallops and 5 shrimp. My shrimp was fried but rubbery. Scallops were good but heavy on garlic. Coleslaw was not good– it was more pickley than slaw. My husband got the fish tacos and the waitress said it would be grouper but it was very fishy. My brother in law had the crab cake and enjoyed it. Out of the 8 adults — half were happy and half weren’t.
Food seemed to be more fancy with odd sides. Mexican styled rice with shrimp is just strange.
Kids menu is nice and has many options. All 8 kids enjoyed their food. Service was also good — waitress was attentive.

Too expensive. The grouper sandwich seemed to be the only real good value at $ 18. I got the fish tacos at $ 17 for 2 tortillas with tiny pieces of fish and nothing else. My son ordered a $ 28 ribeye that was so fatty he sent it back and asked to have it taken off the the bill.
The do focaccia bread was good and the tacos did taste good. Not recommended and not coming back.

Over priced for the quality of food and service. Had to repeatedly ask for drink refills and they forgot our salads we ordered as an appetizer. I felt the food was twice as much as somewhere like red lobster but was the same quality.
I would not be very excited to go back here.

This restaurant has a lot of hype and last night it lived up to it. We arrived around 5:30 just before the evening crowd, got a seat right on the beach, and had a great time. The server was friendly and accommodating, the food was excellent, and it was everything I could ask for. Although not a 5 star (best meal I’ve ever had) it was well worth the stop.

We managed to get a seat right at the edge of the beach. I’d say it was the best seat in the house.
Florida prides itself on Grouper. You will see it overpriced everywhere. This grouper was moderately priced and decent. You can also choose the preparation.
I also had the Florida stone crab claws. Not a reflection of the restaurant I just decided that I could skip Florida stone crab claws all together. I like my crab from Canada or Alaska.
Overall; decent prices and decent food for a restaurant with an incredible real estate. Usually great location equals poor food.
I could see myself getting nice and tipsy on the right day.
Take the opportunity to walk down the beach and look with envy at all the homes that have direct access to the beach. It was beautiful beach without all of the people pollution of other beaches.

The calamari and smoked white fish spread are some of the best appetizers I have had!
We waited over an hour for our table but the wait was okay with the outdoor bar and being able to wait on the beach at sunset!
One of our dishes was served undercooked and cool in the middle (fish) but it was fixed. The manager gave us complimentary key lime pie to make up for the issue and the cake was divine. My seafood pasta was delicious.
What a great spot to eat right on the beach! Kid-​friendly, too.

Right on the gulf, prime location, which explains why Sandbar is busy more often than not. Gotta pick the right time to come. Personally prefer lunch time. Can’t go wrong there when the sun is out.
Never had a bad meal at the Sandbar and the service is usually top notch. Their Grouper Reuben might be the best sandwich on the Island. Just kidding, it definitely is.

Food was great, service was FAST and FRIENDLY. We arrived at peak busy-​ness. The hostess indicated it would be forty minutes’ wait time, so we got drinks from the bar, sat outside, and watched the beach. It only took about twenty minutes and we were seated. Second drinks were served fast and correct, waitress was friendly, efficient and helpful — making suggestions when I ask (I ordered fresh-​caught Cobia and asked best to have it served — blackened was perfect).
Food was served quickly, was delicious, and correctly completed for each diner at the table.
Hush puppies are AWESOME. I’m a hush puppy aficionado, and these are great.
There’s a lot of places like this on the Island (Rod & Reel, City Pier, etc), and there’s a LOT of opinions about who’s best and who’s not — we haven’t hit them all, but I can say this — Sandbar Restaurant is a perfectly acceptable choice, well worth the wait and price, and the beach view is simply perfect.

Great place right in the beach. Busy, especially during the high season-​get here early or be prepared to wait a bit. The menu is full of shore type offerings, lots of seafood and the like, pretty good local catch also. The service was good,
Actually great considering how busy the restaurant was. Superb place to watch the sunset.

This is an incredible place on the beach. I spent a week in the area and hit many places. This is my favorite of the week. Why you ask?
Great location, great view of the beach, sunsets, the complete package. A wedding had just completed on the beach as we arrived with family who are locals now. What a great place for pictures.
Now for the food, I had the fried jumbo shrimp and they might be the best I ever had. Nice full, lightly breaded but the taste… oh yeah the taste. Wife had the stuffed shrimp with crab meat and also loved it. It came with a light cream sauce that she liked
Large seating area inside but even more outside on the deck. If your lucky you can get one of the several tables in the sand. Really a great place to enjoy the sunset or night out.

After a superb weeklong trip to Florida, I was part of a group of five that dined at the Sandbar Restaurant for our farewell dinner back in May, 2015. Even on a Tuesday evening, the bar area and restaurant were both crowded and we had a bit of a wait. Once called we were seated outside. I thought it was pretty special we were literally dining on the beach, I couldn’t wait for the sunset. Our waitress was friendly, ensuring we had an ample supply of drinks, water, and checked back often.
I ordered one of the salmon specials which was cooked to absolute perfection. I ate the entire thing — it was that good. My cousin ordered a tuna special which she allowed me to try. Although I forgot what the rest of my party ordered, everyone seemed satisfied. It was pretty neat that the restaurant has a competition between tables to see which party can most closely predict the time of the sunset to the hour, minute, and second. While we were close, we did not win. We didn’t necessarily need the wine/​champagne/​dessert so it was a-​ok. I should mention we were awfully close (thanks Siri).

I went here with my family a week ago and the food was great. I had a scallop and shrimp dish with a delicious butter sauce. While the shrimp was delicious I think it was slightly overcooked. It had the beginnings of a rubbery texture, but still very delicious. The hushpuppies on the side were fried a bit too long so they were crispy on the outside. However they still tasted very good.
The atmosphere is great. We had a clear view of the beach through sizable windows and the service was very good. We went there around 5 so maybe that’s why it was so good. The restaurant gets very busy around dinner time so I would suggest going early. Maybe be there around 5 or 5:30.

Die Sandbar ist ein wirklich tolles Restaurant einem tollen Ort. Man sitzt wunderschön unter einem Sonnensegel im freien und hat
einen tollen Blick auf den Golf. Auch das essen hier ist sehr erwähnenswert, ich hatte z.b. einen «Stuffed Tilapia «mit Caesar Salat
und Kartoffeln, was mir sehr gut scheckte. Einzig die ansonsten sehr Freundliche Kellner könnten ein bisschen schneller sein. Naja
aber bei der Hitze will man ja mal nicht so sein. Auch ein großer Parkplatz gehört zum Lokal.
Wir haben unseren Besuch hier gossen und bekommen bestimmt wieder.